TOP OF THE SIXTH

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, May 2, 1995

Why do home-plate umpires carry a whisk broom? Well, a minivacuum would be a little unwieldy.

There was a time when they would clean off the plate with a long-handled broom. When they were done, they would toss the broom aside.

According to the new book "Banana Bats and Ding-Dong Balls" by Dan Gutman, a Chicago Cubs player named Jack McCarthy changed baseball's housekeeping techniques forever. During a game in 1904, he tripped over a broom after he crossed the plate, injuring his ankle.

From then on, home-plate umpires didn't speak softly nor did they carry a big stick.

IT WILL BE A BIG YEAR FOR GEORGIANS, WHETHER THEY KNOW IT OR NOT:

A poll of about 1,000 Southerners revealed that a third of them don't know where next year's Summer Olympics will be held. Meanwhile, a poll of about 500 people from outside the South showed half of them had no idea, either. (Don't tell anybody but they're in Atlanta.)

-- From the Cutler Rock Comedy Network: "Baseball ticket prices have gone up 1.8 percent. Owners say the increase is necessary to offset the cost of removing the knife from fans' backs."

-- The mascot for the Sonoma County Crushers of the Western Baseball League is named Crusher; he's billed as "The Abominable Sonoman."

-- The late Howard Cosell was once credited with a triple-redundancy: "Let us reflect back nostalgically on the past."

-- S.F. comic Boats Johnson calls it "a perfect marriage -- the A's with the aging veterans and their radio station, KFRC, the Home of the Oldies."

-- From David Letterman's Top Ten list of "Things Overheard on 'Take Our Daughters to Work Day' ": "OK, the final score is Mets Daughters 8, Mets 0."

SINGING THE BLUES: Among the many who poked fun at the replacement umpires before yesterday's settlement between the regular umps and Major League Baseball was The Famous Chicken, who appeared at a game wearing a sign that said: "Will Ump For Food."

-- During the lockout, striking ump Eric Gregg said of the replacements: "We're telling the fans, 'Just do what you always do: Boo the umpires -- only do it a little louder.' "

-- Umpire Bruce Froemming, when the negotiations were looking bleak: "We keep hearing about the players wanting a piece of the pie. Hey, we just want a fork."

-- Team boss Bill Koch and the women of the America 3 crew decided progress was made because they "went from being considered a joke to being a team that Dennis Conner and his crew could get drunk over beating."